A SHAMED Tyneside priest has been jailed for four years for abusing alter boys and a teenage girl.

Father John Benedict Corrigan, 71, finally confessed to his sex sins in court, almost 40 years after the offences were committed.

He pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a girl between January and December 1970 when she was 15 and he was put on the Sex Offenders’ Register last November when he admitted offences of indecent assault on boys between 1967 and 1972.

Judge David Hodgson said: "You thought no one would complain and even if they did, their word would not be believed against yours.

"You were in an especially privileged position and were regarded by parishioners as a person with whom the safety and innocence of children in your charge would be safe."